whs: Don't get me started. I could go on for hours about the difference between "loose" and "lose" which seems to be lost on the Internet. But, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are ignored by so many forum posters that it just feels hopeless. I think the children coming up today will speak like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nIUcRJX9-o

But in some way it is rude towards the people that are not familiar with this kind of language - especially for people of other native languages. This is really ashame. I think we can only constantly remind everyone to make themselves understood - else communication is pretty hopeless.

I am enjoying this discussion, though feeling slightly guilty about hijacking the thread.

whs, I feel that when speaking or writing you must know your audience. In other forums that I have been on, everyone is in the US so I know that I can use American slang and colloquialisms. Here on this forum we have such a wonderful international audience -- which I really like. Knowing that is my audience, I try to avoid using too much "American". I also check a poster's Location in their profile whenever possible. Even the use of British English versus American English is something I try to work on. I believe that in most countries where English is used as a second language British English is more common.

For those who are non-native English speakers I am always respectful. They speak at least 2 languages and I don't. Also, I am more forgiving of their English language errors. Those of us in the US and UK have less of an excuse for improper use of English.